Senator Rand Paul’s Imaginary Libertarian Immigrants

Sen. Rand Paul has suddenly become aware of facts that do not exist. “Immigrants are drawn to the magnet of free market capitalism here in the United States,” he wrote in an op-ed last week.

However, over half of Hispanics are literally telling us that they reject “capitalism,” and the two largest immigrant groups (Hispanics and Asians) are voting overwhelmingly for the more anti-capitalist of the two major parties.

A 2011 Pew poll asked, “[D]o you have a positive or negative reaction to the word… Capitalism [or] Socialism”? Fifty-five percent of Hispanics reported having a “negative reaction” to the word “capitalism.” Compare that 55% with self-identified “Liberal Democrats,” 47% of whom had a “negative reaction” to the word “capitalism.” Only 32% of Hispanics had “a positive reaction” to the word “capitalism.” Forty-one percent of blacks and 55% of whites had “a positive reaction” to the word “capitalism.”